Current evidence suggests that oral cancer stem cells (OCSCs) possess high tumorigenic and metastatic properties as well as chemo- and radioresistance. In this study, we demonstrated that andrographolide, the main bioactive component in the medicinal plant Andrographis, significantly reduced oncogenicity and restored radio-sensitivity of ALDH1+CD44+ OCSCs. Mechanistic studies showed that andrographolide treatment increased the expression of microRNA-218 (miR-218), leading to the downregulation of Bmi1. We showed that knockdown of miR-218 in ALDH1-CD44- non-OCSCs enhanced cancer stemness, while silencing of Bmi1 significantly counteracted it...

A placenta is defined as structural approximation of maternal and foetal tissues to perform physiological exchange. Associated processes of differentiation and the establishment of its cells take place within the extracellular matrix (ECM) that provides a rich environment of collagens, fibronectins, cytokines and other components. Placental ECM is promising for tissue regeneration purposes, because it has immune tolerance capacities that may cause only minimal rejections of transplants with immunological differences between donor and recipient...

The present study concentrated on introducing a micropropagation protocol for a drought resistant genotype from Pyrus boissieriana, which is the second most naturally widespread pear species in Iran with proper physiological and medicinal properties. Proliferating microshoot cultures were obtained by placing nodal segments on MS medium supplemented with BAP and IBA or NAA. The highest number of shoots (27 shoots per explant) were obtained with 1.5 mg l(-1) BAP and 0.05 mg l(-1) IBA, but this combination did not produce shoots of desirable length (>1...

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is frequent and is associated with poor outcomes, including increased mortality, higher risk of chronic kidney disease, and prolonged hospital lengths of stay. The epidemiology of AKI mainly derives from studies performed in Western high-income countries. More limited data are available from Western low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) located in Central and South America. SUMMARY: In this review, we summarize the most recent data on the epidemiology of AKI in Western countries, aiming to contrast results from industrialized high-income countries with LMICs...

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common disorder and is associated with a high morbidity and mortality worldwide. The diversity of the climate and of the socioeconomic and developmental status in Asia has a great influence on the etiology and presentation of AKI in different regions. In view of the International Society of Nephrology's 0by25 initiative, more and more attention has been paid to AKI in Asian countries. SUMMARY: In this review, we summarize the recent achievements with regard to the prevalence and clinical patterns of AKI in Asian countries...

Crowdsourcing, an unorthodox approach in medicine, creates an unusual paradigm to study precision cerebrovascular health, eliminating the relative isolation and non-standardized nature of current imaging data infrastructure, while shifting emphasis to the astounding capacity of big data in the cloud. This perspective envisions the use of imaging data of the brain and vessels to orient and seed A Million Brains Initiative™ that may leapfrog incremental advances in stroke and rapidly provide useful data to the sizable population around the globe prone to the devastating effects of stroke and vascular substrates of dementia...

The Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, during a historic event in Spring 2016, graduated the first two students in the Pacific region to earn a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo. The college offers PhD programs in these five disciplines: Cancer Biology, Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmaceutics, Pharmacognosy, and Pharmacology. One of the Pharmacognosy dissertations focused on plant-derived natural products with potential anti-inflammatory and cancer chemopreventive activities...

Isofraxetin-6-O-β-d-glucopyranoside, identified from traditional medicinal herbal Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge, has been demonstrated to be a natural neuroinflammatory inhibitor. In order to obtain more derivatives with potential anti-neuroinflammatory effects, biotransformation was carried out. According to the characteristics of coumarin skeleton, suspension cultures of Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels callus (A. sinensis callus) were employed because of the presence of diverse phenylpropanoids biosynthetic enzymes...

BACKGROUND: When modeling in Systems Biology and Systems Medicine, the data is often extensive, complex and heterogeneous. Graphs are a natural way of representing biological networks. Graph databases enable efficient storage and processing of the encoded biological relationships. They furthermore support queries on the structure of biological networks. RESULTS: We present the Java-based framework STON (SBGN TO Neo4j). STON imports and translates metabolic, signalling and gene regulatory pathways represented in the Systems Biology Graphical Notation into a graph-oriented format compatible with the Neo4j graph database...

Cytochrome P450s (CYP) represent a superfamily of b-type hemoproteins catalyzing NAD(P)H-dependent oxidative biotransformation of a vast array of natural and xenobiotic compounds. Many eu- and prokaryotic members of this class of monooxygenases display complex non-Michaelis-Menten saturation kinetics, suggestive of homo-/heterotropic cooperativity arising from substrate-/effector-induced allosteric interactions. Here, the paradigm of multiple-ligand occupancy of the catalytic pocket in combination with enzyme oligomerization provides the most favored explanations for the atypical kinetic patterns...

Ursolic acid (UA), a naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpene acid found in many medicinal herbs and edible plants, triggers apoptosis in several tumor cell lines but not in human bone cancer cells. Most recently, we have demonstrated that UA exposure reduces the viability of human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells through enhanced oxidative stress and apoptosis. Interestingly, an inhibitor of osteoclast-mediated bone resorption, zoledronic acid (ZOL), also a third-generation nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate, is effective in the treatment of bone metastases in patients with various solid tumors...

BACK GROUND: Diabetes is a mutifactorial disease which leads to several complications. Currently available drug regimens for management of diabetes have certain drawbacks. Need for safer and effective medicines from natural sources having potent antidiabetic activity. Averrhoa bilimbi Linn. (Oxalidaceae) is a medicinal plant and is reported to possess hypoglycemic activity. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the antidiabetic potential of Averrhoa bilimbi fruit extract in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats...

Ginkgolides, the main active constituents of Ginkgo biloba, possess significant selectively inhibition on platelet-activating factor and pancreatic lipase and attract wide attention in pharmacological research area. In our study, an effective hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange method was developed by exchanging the α-Hs of lactone groups in ginkgolides with Ds, which was very useful for the elucidation of the fragmentation patterns of ginkgolides in Quadrupole Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry (Q-TOF-MS), especially in accurately distinguishing the type and position of substituent in framework of ginkgolides...

Macrophages, as a major cellular component in tumor microenvironment, play an important role in tumor progression. However, their roles in modulation of cytotoxic chemotherapy are still not fully understood. Here, we investigated the influence of Lipoplysaccharides (LPS)-stimulated macrophage products (LSMP) on Withaferin A (WA), a natural compound that derived from the medicinal plant Withania somnifera, as an antitumor agent in human breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 and prostate cancer cells PC-3. Our results revealed that LSMP may enhance WA-induced apoptosis in both cell lines, the underlying mechanisms of which are closely associated with activation of caspase-8, -9 and -3, cleavage of poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP), as well as specifically inhibiting the translocation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and down-regulation of anti-apoptotic proteins X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) and inhibitor of apoptosis protein (cIAP1/2)...

Toxins are natural or chemical poisonous substances with severe side effects on health. Humans are generally exposed by widespread toxic contaminations via air, soil, water, food, fruits and vegetables. Determining a critical antidote agent with extensive effects on different toxins is an ultimate goal for all toxicologists. Traditional medicine is currently perceived as a safe and natural approach against toxins. In this regard, we focused on the protective effects of green tea (Camellia sinensis) and its main components such as catechin, epicatechin, epicatechin gallate, gallocatechin, epigallocatechin and epigallocatechin gallate as a principal source of antioxidants against both natural and chemical toxins...

Professionalism is rarely taught formally. It is learned by osmosis through the hidden curriculum: a set of attitudes that each one of us transmits unconsciously to students, medical residents, and colleagues. All of us are a model or counter-model of professionalism through a series of values that have been the pillars of our profession since Hippocrates. Values that do not seem to be strong enough to pass our time. There are specific factors of the 21st century such as the financial crisis, the highly technical nature of medicine, bureaucratisation or trivialisation of the medical process that could explain, but not justify, the decline in the values of our profession: Empathy, integrity, solidarity, the altruism, or confidentiality...

Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract, with increasing incidence worldwide. Crohn's disease might result from a complex interplay between genetic susceptibility, environmental factors, and altered gut microbiota, leading to dysregulated innate and adaptive immune responses. The typical clinical scenario is a young patient presenting with abdominal pain, chronic diarrhoea, weight loss, and fatigue. Assessment of disease extent and of prognostic factors for complications is paramount to guide therapeutic decisions...

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed among women and is the second leading cause of cancer death. Homeopathic medicines are part of the alternative medicines that are given as a supportive therapy in breast cancer. The objective of this study was to investigate the anticancer activity of commercially available homeopathic preparations of Terminalia chebula (TC) and evaluate their nanoparticulate nature. METHODS: Mother tincture (MT) and other homeopathic preparations (3X, 6C and 30C) of TC were tested for their effect on the viability of breast cancer (MDAMB231 and MCF7) and non-cancerous (HEK 293) cell lines by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay...

INTRODUCTION: Type 1 diabetes mellitus and oral health are strictly related on a reciprocal basis, and an increased susceptibility to a wide variety of oral diseases is recognised in these patients. The aim of the present study was to establish a relationship between the prevalence of dental caries in Type 1 diabetic patients treated with insulin pump and that of non-diabetic patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An observational clinical study of analytical and cross-sectional nature was conducted...